Tamsin Kerr, second-place winner of our 2015 Emerging Environmental Writers Contest, takes readers to an aboriginal celebration of an ancient tree on the Sunshine Coast of northeastern Australia.
Writing Contest
Power Struggle: Pushing Back on Alaska’s Susitna Dam Proposal
Sarah Guy, co-winner of our 2015 Emerging Environmental Writers Contest, travels up the Susitna River and learns from an Iditarod racer about a controversial dam project.
Why We Plant Trees
Sophie Dillon, third place winner of our 2015 Emerging Environmental Writers Contest, picks up a pickaxe, plants a tree, and learns something about community in the process.
Untamings: Two Essays on the German Post-natural
Lauren Greyson, co-winner of our 2015 Emerging Environmental Writers Contest, takes a walk to Honeymoon Hole, a landscape once pried and blasted apart, now transformed.
The Lives of Plovers
Sierra Dickey, Honorable Mention of our 2014 Emerging Environmental Writers Contest, contemplates how a small shorebird can teach us to be more reverent.
The Memory of Trees
Pamela Sonn’s haunting meditation from Alaska’s temperate rainforest is third place winner of our 2014 Emerging Environmental Writers Contest.
Beyond the North Slope: Oil drills and discord off Alaska’s Arctic coast
Amy Mount, winner of our 2014 Emerging Environmental Writers Contest, journeys to Alaska’s Chukchi Sea to investigate the debate over offshore drilling and the stakes for subsistence whalers.
Honorable Mention: The Water Generation Gap
Water may soon replace oil as Texas’ most valuable resource.
Honorable Mention: Sunset at Mile 16
In a place where the plants are invasive and the people are illegal, Alycia Parnell describes a refuge meant only for certain plants and people. But others who aren’t “supposed” to be there show up anyway.
3rd Place: The Pit in the Woods
In Amazonian Peru, Nigel Pitman was responsible for “Science Saturdays,” when he would try to impart some worldly knowledge to the children of the village near where he was living. He tells the story of one Science Saturday in particular that was especially enlightening for him.
2nd Place: Return to the Mountain
David Johnson returns to his childhood home in Arkansas to see what fracking has changed (and what it hasn’t).
Winner: A Tale of Two Trails
Hiking the Appalachian Trail has traditionally been viewed as an escape from modern society. But with a new generation of hikers bringing technology into the woods, trail culture is rapidly evolving. Do these changes reflect a more social and accessible trail, or do they threaten the age-old benefits of experiencing the outdoors?